A World Without Princes
A World Without Princes is a 2013 fantasy, fairy tale novel written by Soman Chainani. It is the second book in trilogy and second book overall in The School for Good and Evil series. Synopsis Happily ever after? Not quite. Magic and romance battle each other in this much anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The School for Good and Evil. Best friends Sophie and Agatha return to the spectacular world where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one. Together, they have the strength to face unseen enemies and new threats. But what will happen when they are torn apart?[https://schoolforgoodandevil.com/books/a-world-without-princes/ A World Without Princes — School for Good and Evil official site] Plot Sophie is directing a play in Gavaldon to reenact hers and Agatha's story for the 1 year anniversary of them attending The School for Good and Evil but, Though nobody really knows their lines, Sophie is determined to finish the play. As she is walking home in the rain, she begins to remember what happened when she and Agatha returned home. People praised them, asked for autographs and even built them statues. Agatha did interviews for the town scroll and always came to the autograph sessions, much to Sophie's surprise. However they became old news and even though Agatha was ok with this, Sophie refused to settle into normal life. Soon after Honora and Stefan reveal that they are getting married, much to Sophie's horror and anger. Sophie arrives home to see Honora cooking dinner. She rushes outside to see her father putting a tent up with Honora's sons Jacob and Adam. Stefan reveals that the wedding is the next day, removing Sophie's plans of having the play earlier to talk her father out of the wedding, leaving Sophie even angrier than before. Meanwhile Agatha begins to think about Tedros but is awakened by her mother. Callis begins to ask her about the School for Evil. Agatha continues to refuse until her mother becomes angry for not sharing the information. Agatha catches the sight of an open fairytale book and begins to cry, but is able to disguise her tears by chopping onions. Afterwards, Sophie is seen visiting her mother's grave, when Agatha arrives with a candle, providing light to see the butterfly carving in the headstone. Sophie begins to tell Agatha about her mother's story- how she had two boys both born dead and was said to be unable to have any more children afterward until she somehow became pregnant with Sophie. She continues talking about how her father would visit Honora as her mother watched in pain. Sophie states that she doesn't want to end up like her, and tells Agatha that she would do "anything to see her again". That night, Sophie has a nemesis dream, in which she is the Beast hunting down Jacob and Adam. After killing them she wakes up in fear and sees herself as a witch in the mirror. She panics, but the mirror shows herself as her normal self. She begins to wonder if the School Master was right, that she is pure Evil, but comes to the conclusion that she is not thanks to Agatha. She returns to sleep, tasting blood. The wedding happens the next day. Agatha is seen being very grim without any reason, but makes an effort to attend the wedding for Sophie. Agatha asks Callis why the Council of Elders have to approve of each wedding and Callis responds by saying how marriages were originally forced, and Stefan suffered 'worst of all'. Callis suddenly stops talking about it, making Agatha confused before Sophie calls her over for the wedding. As time goes on Agatha becomes more grim and Sophie more anxious. When Stefan goes to kiss Honora, Agatha makes a wish, causing her finger to glow gold. Arrows from the forest start to fly towards the wedding, causing havoc. However, they all turn at the last minute towards Sophie, who retreats. Sophie is locked in the church, as the arrows would not attack her there. Agatha refuses to leave so she is also locked in. The attacks don't stop, and soon half of the town is destroyed. Signs around the town begin popping up, saying "GIVE US SOPHIE.". The town Elders agree to sacrifice her so the town will not perish. They take Sophie from the church and out into the forest. Agatha is taken home but runs back to the church as she realises what the Elders are going to do to Sophie. She sees a trail of honeycream that Sophie has left and begins to follow it. However, she is thought to be an attacker, causing her to be bombarded by stones and rocks. Stefan runs after her, as he goes to attack her. When Agatha reveals it is her, she promises Stefan she will bring back his daughter and escapes into the forest. Agatha encounters snakes (which trap her to a tree and almost strangle her to death), before noticing her fingerglow is gold, and more importantly, glows when she thinks about Tedros. She continues on her way until she finds a moat with seemingly white crocodiles in it that ear a female deer as a pair of deer attempt to cross it. Finally, she finds Sophie, with her outfit covered in blood. She hides Agatha but the attackers- men with red hoods- see them and chase them. They come to a fork in the road and take the one with the blue butterflies. The butterflies lead them to the Flowerground. The ticket taker asks for their tickets, but because they don't have any, Agatha frantically threatens him. Vines then pick up the two and carry them along the railroad, where they witness 'Ever' women talking to one another as men sit alone. The red hooded men catch up to them, but they fall into a field of flowers where Lady Lesso and Professor Dovey find them. They tell the girls that one of them has made a wish and has caused their story's original ending to be erased. Sophie denies making a wish, but Agatha couldn't lie and admits that she was longing for a prince. The two are also informed that Tedros has now become the School Master. The only way to avoid war is for Agatha to pick either Sophie, or Tedros. If she picks Sophie, they can go home. If she picks Tedros, Sophie will go home. Either way, everything will be back to normal. But they must get their hands on the Storian to write "The End" and make their wishes of being together. If not, a war will start between boys and girls. The meeting is interrupted by Evelyn Sader, Professor Sader's half sister. She introduces herself as the Dean of the School for Girls. She takes them to the Welcoming, where the girls perform a dance for them and present them with gifts. Sophie begins to think that this is the world that they deserve, whilst Agatha disagrees. The girls then rip off their veils, showing familiar faces, even if they have changed. Agatha speaks to Hester, Anadil and Dot, who all tell her that the only way to fix everything is for her to kiss Tedros. Despite the fact that the three witches hate boys, they still believe that boys are necessary and it is unfair to neglect them. Hester also wants to be class captain at the School for Evil, which is impossible when the school doesn't exist. Agatha reluctantly agrees to go see Tedros. While in class, Agatha sees Tedros as a spirit, he tells her to cross the halfway bridge to visit him. She informs Hester, Anadil and Dot. She also tells them she saw a wart forming on Sophie, leading them to believe that Sophie is turning into a witch. Their suspicions grow as Sophie kills a phantom pigeon in class when she fails to become human again. Because she gets very low scores during the day, she and Dot are required to guard the Girl's Gates. Agatha discovers that the bridge has been destroyed but still tries to cross it due to her faith in Tedros. She manages to trick her reflection into letting her pass. She goes up to the School Master's tower after being captured. Unknown to her friend, Sophie follows Agatha, transmogrifying into a bird to get to the School for Boys. A mogrif shield laced around the school hinders her and sends Sophie in a pit full of snakes. As Aric and the others charge, she uses the snakes' skins to make an invisibility cape. Tedros and Agatha are left seemingly alone, despite Sophie's presence, and begin to talk. While both are happy to see the other, Tedros is worried Agatha is deceiving him and that Sophie is there. Agatha desperately tries to convince him she is there alone. Before Tedros and Agatha kiss, he tells her choosing him isn't enough this time and Sophie must die. The two begin to argue. Angry, Tedros claims she let Sophie into the tower because only witchcraft could let her cross the bridge. Finding the pair in the tower, Sophie fires a shot in between them-Tedros thinking it was Agatha, and vice versa. Agatha quickly escapes to the School for Girls, finding Sophie sleeping peacefully. Fired up, Tedros makes Aric open the shield surrounding the schools to recruit the ex-princes outside. He sends a letter to the Dean declaring war. It states that a Trial will be held. If the girls win, the boys will become their slaves. If the boys win, Sophie and Agatha would be handed over and publicly executed. Agatha vows to pick Sophie because she believes her friend is good. Meanwhile, in the School for Girls, Hester, Anadil, Dot, Agatha and the rest of the girls where talking about Tedros. Agatha admits that she thought that Tedros shot a pink spell. Agatha tells Hester that Sophie didn't have a wart, but Hester is convinced. During their conversation, Sophie appears and says to Agatha that if they were together the witch inside her will be dead. The school is attacked by arrows, bearing messages of the Trial by Tale. To the Readers' surprise, the Dean agrees to the terms. Both the School for Boys and the School for Girls start training for the Trial. Meanwhile, Sophie, Agatha and the three witches devise a plan to sneak into the School for Boys. They find Yuba and he turns Sophie into a boy(due to her winning a challenge). The point of the plan is that Sophie, who chooses to go by Filip, will be close enough to the tower to search for the Storian and when she finds it, she and Agatha can wish for each other and escape home. Filip heads to the school, pretending to be a prince from another kingdom competing for the price on the girls' heads. She ends up stuck in the dungeons with Tedros and at first, the two don't get along at all. Tedros is suffering, both physically and emotionally. Aric whips and tortures him daily and Tedros is still clearly affected by Agatha's "betrayal" in the tower. Eventually, Filip starts to soften and her feelings for him start to re bloom. Meanwhile ,Tedros feels as if he has found his first true friend in Filip. Sophie completely neglects searching for the Storian and realizes she wasted all the time she had. Tedros chooses Filip to accompany him in the Trial. During this time, Agatha is in the School for Girls. She is clearly conflicted when it comes to choosing Sophie, since she keeps having dreams about Tedros and even realizes she is still wishing for him. There are also several missing pieces, such as the pink spell she saw in the tower, the snakeskin cap underneath Sophie's bed, and a spirik mark on her arm. But she doesn't piece any of it together until later during the trial. Agatha is also trying to find out what Evelyn Sader has planned. As they're competing in the Trial by Tale, Tedros and Filip are about to kiss when Agatha sees them. She has just come to the realization that Sophie had been in the tower. She and Filip begin to argue only for Tedros to defend Filip. However the spell unravels and Filip turns back to Sophie. Tedros suddenly realizes that he had been tricked, yet again by someone, until Agatha tells him that not everything was a trick. He soon realizes what truly happened in the tower and him and Agatha are on good terms again. Agatha than gives up on Sophie and chooses Tedros. Lady Lesso comes and sees Tedros and Agatha hugging and Sophie on the other side all alone. However, butterflies sweep her off and away back to the castle. Then the the shield between the castles break and the boys and girls charge at each other, only to be separated by a hole in the bridge. Meanwhile, Evelyn Sader appears with the book and the Storian. She forces Sophie's witch symptoms to occur and Agatha becomes even more sure of choosing Tedros this time. She and Tedros finally kiss but before The End can be written, Evelyn says that Sophie deserves a chance at her true ending. She then uses Sophie's wish back in Gavaldon to bring the School Master back. He then kisses Sophie and the book ends with Tedros and Agatha vanishing to Galvaldon while Sophie and the School Master are now at the both evil schools. Chapter list PART I Sophie Makes a Wish Agatha Makes a Wish Too Breadcrumbs Red Hoods Ride The Other School Her Name is Yara The Witches Brew a Plan Unforgiven Symptoms Returned Breadcrumbs Doubt The Uninvited Guest PART II The Supper Hall Book Club Merlin's Lost Spell The Five Rules A Boy by Any Other Name Two Schools, Two Missions Sader's Secret History Two Days Left One Step Ahead Red Light Last One In Death in the Forest Villains Unmasked Gallery Videos Trivia * There is a Target Exclusive edition featuring deleted scenes from Book 1, a chat with the author, and an excerpt from The Last Ever After SGE 2 A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES Official Trailer References